Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Business Wire, Jan 23, 2008

WASHINGTON -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:49 P.M. EST

MS. PERINO: First, a note for Connie Lawn, who is celebrating 40 years in the business. And she brought treats for everybody in our office, which you're welcome to partake in. (Applause.) Yea for Connie.

The President is currently meeting with the U.S. -- some representatives from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. They have their meeting this week in Washington, D.C., so the President is meeting with them, talking to them about free trade agreements and about the economy. And you'll have his pool remarks in a little bit. I sort of waited to see if I could wait for him, because he's usually running early, but it didn't work, so I'm a little bit late. I apologize for that.

Q News flash. (Laughter.)

Q Senator Reid wants the President to support a one-month extension of FISA. Is he okay with that?

MS. PERINO: Well, the Senate has had six months in order to work on this bill. In the letter that he wrote to the President today he said they'd been working diligently on it. I did see yesterday that he was going to move forward and push the bill -- try to push the bill through the Senate this week. They have 10 days -- or about nine days now until the bill expires, until the law expires. And we would like to see him be able to try to get this done. He's already said he's going to try to get it through the Senate, and then the House can pick it up.

Q To follow on that --

MS. PERINO: FISA?

Q Yes. In theory, what is so odious about keeping the current law in place until all sides can hash out the various differences?

MS. PERINO: Well, look, there's been six months to hash out the differences. Actually, we've been -- there's been a whole year-and-a-half worth of hashing out the differences on this bill. And there was a robust debate, a hardy debate back in August, when we got the bill that we have now. We did not think it was wise to put a six-month sunset on this bill at the time.

Over the next six months the Senate Intelligence Committee passed a bipartisan measure that could -- that we think is supportable. We have one thing that we could -- one part of it that we disagree with in terms of one of the amendments -- I think the Wyden amendment is the one we've identified. But we do believe that the Senate Intelligence bill represents a bipartisan solution to this, and that's what is on the Senate floor. And we believe that the Senate should be able to work through this, and we're hopeful that they'll be able to get it done this week, as he said he wanted to do.

Q And if they can't, then?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that we should wait and see, and we're hopeful that they can get it done this week.

Q Are you prepared for filibuster? Senator Dodd said today that if the measure that emerged from all of this contained the liability protection for telecom companies, that he would filibuster. Are you prepared for a filibuster?

MS. PERINO: I haven't heard him say he'd filibuster, although I guess he had said that back when he was on a campaign trail, as well. So maybe he has re-upped that commitment. Look, we think that there can be debate on the Senate floor, that this is not a debate that's just been taking place the past couple of days. They've had debate since August and, prior to that, about a year's worth of debate about this bill. So there's been plenty of time for everyone to have their say.

And the Senate Intelligence Committee has a bill that they reported out in a bipartisan fashion; it was 13 to 2. We can support that provision with some minor changes, and we'd like to see them get it done this week. And then it can go to -- and then it can -- and then that bill can presumably be sent over to the House, and they can pass it next week, because we have about nine days until the deadline expires.

Q Dana, do you know in the budget that comes out February 4, will the costs of the economic stimulus be reflected in the budget deficit in that?

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Q It will be?

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Q On FISA --

Q Can we finish with the budget deficits --

MS. PERINO: The economy? Okay.

Q -- since we're on that? What do you think of this new CBO estimate that shows the slowing economy having a pretty dramatic effect on increasing the debt?

MS. PERINO: Well, I don't know how they come to their -- all of the numbers at CBO. It's a little bit -- math is not my strong suit. But they certainly have said something that we said back in July, which is we think that there will be an increase in the deficit, a small one. And the details of what we think in terms of deficit projections will be out in full on February 4th once our budget comes out. What's important to note is that we believe that that short-term increase in the deficit will be because of the consensus that the leaders agree with that there -- we should have a economic stimulus package.

We're going to be working towards that. But at the same time, the President is going to continue to urge spending restraint so that we can make sure that it's temporary and we can get back on track so we can continue to have the benefits of the increased tax revenues that we've enjoyed over the past few years stemming from the President's tax cuts in 2003.